There’s a lot of interest right now in a concept called the Law of Attraction—a principle that states what you focus on, you get.
Many of us are in our spas today, our first work day of the New Year, vowing to do things differently in 2007. Making resolutions, or goals, is part of the process of focusing on what you want. But as we all know too well, that’s the easy part.
Everyone uses different tools to help them get focused. Spa operations, in their lovable, chaotic way, have a unique way of de-focusing us on those long term, big ticket goals. By now (it’s noon on Tuesday, January 2) you may well have been thrown headlong into something called “the tyranny of the immediate.” An emergency, a crisis, an operational hair ball that requires untangling.
Stuff happens.
Here are some simple techniques I’ve learned for keeping my important goals in focus:
Morning Routine:
Start your day by reviewing your big goals. You’re fresh and energized at the beginning of the day. This is the perfect time to focus on those high-value goals, like launching a new sales training program for your estheticians. Make time for this every day. This is an “important but not urgent” activity that is crucial to success.
Avoid the trap of starting your day with e mail! This is one I learned from Verne Harnish, the great business expert and author. When you start your day with e mail, everyone else’s priorities become yours—you start in a reactive, not proactive state. Schedule time for your e mail and leave it alone in between. It will eat your day and leave you little to show for it.
Create a fresh, reprioritized new “to do” list every day.
This is one of the best ways to focus your attention. There is no perfect formula for a daily list format—it’s whatever works for you. Over the years, my daily list has turned into an Excel spreadsheet, where I have my “projects” listed along with the next three action items for each. This works better for me than a linear list, because it keeps my to-do items in categories and my deliverables in manageable numbers. I update it every day at the computer and print a fresh copy. During the day, I scribble messages and notes on it—Post It notes get attached, too. Everything I need to do ends up there, and only there. That’s key. Then…
Evening Routine:
1. Transfer “to do” items from your list to your calendar by day’s end.
Nothing is more demoralizing and de-energizing than a list of things to do that’s as long as your arm and keeps growing. Assign dates and times to as many of your to-do items as you can. It will give you a much more real sense of how to get things done—and what you can’t do. (You might start saying “no” to activities that are not high-return!) Your goal should be to keep your list as short as possible.
2. Give yourself credit for your daily accomplishments. No, the action items never end, but that’s no reason to focus only on what you haven’t done. Make sure that part of your end-of-the-day ritual is focusing on what you did accomplish that day. Write it down.
Focus is the most common trait of very successful people, regardless of their industry. So now when stuff happens—massage therapists call in sick, shipments get delayed and equipment breaks—you’ll still have spent “quality time” with your key goals every day. And that, day by day, becomes your New Year Evolution.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Food for Feedback
FOOD FOR FEEDBACK
I don’t talk to many spa owners who feel their customer service is sub-substandard. Many already use customer-feedback tools, including customer comment cards and even in-house or professionally conducted surveys. The more vigilant spas are monitoring their buzz on online review sites like Yelp! And Citysearch. According to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, customer happiness is at its lowest point in two years.
Getting into our customer’s heads has turned into an obsession. What are they thinking? What are they saying?
Turns out, there’s one simple question that will not just tell you what they’re thinking, but predict its impact on your bottom line. A system called the Net Promoter Score measures the likelihood of a customer recommending you to others—which proves to be a very accurate indicator of business success.
Fred Reichheld, a business consultant and author, recently released his book The Ultimate Question, which explains the Net Promoter Scoring system. The system, which the author has used for three years, was also described in an article in the Harvard Business Review last year.
The question is very simple: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us?”
A score of 9-10 indicates a delighted, loyal customer who is willing to promote your company. 7-8 suggests satisfied customers who are “passive”, or non-promoters, and 6 or below is an “active detractor,” someone who is promoting you to others—in the wrong way.
In other words, the only customers who will build your business are the ones who give you 9’s and 10’s. To get your Net Promoter Score, you subtract the percentage of detractors from promoters. Reichheld says that most companies he studied actually scored between 10 and 20, with the “A Players”, appropriately, racking up scores over 80%.
The author tested many similar questions before hitting on this one. For some reason, the Ultimate Question crystallizes feelings about customer satisfaction almost perfectly, creating a highly accurate indicator of a company’s ability to win new customers and retain existing ones.
Best of all, it’s simple. You can implement this system tomorrow at your spa. Place cards with this question at your front desk and have your concierges graciously invite each departing guest to complete one. It will take about ten seconds. We added two questions, with the same 0 to 10 scale, asking guests to rate their individual therapist’s “recommendability” and their satisfaction with our facilities and amenities. We also give them a space for comments under each. This helps us pinpoint areas for improvement. We also discreetly note the guest’s name on the card after they’ve departed, so we can address specific situations that need to be rectified.
We review our score at each week’s management Progress Meeting.
If you’re new to customer feedback tools, take heart. For years, I ran my spa without explicitly asking for people’s honest feedback. It’s easy to get complacent, or assume you’re doing the best job you can. No one wants to go looking for trouble. But like any long-avoided cleaning chore, once you roll up your sleeves you’re glad you got into it. Though no one likes to be criticized, “outing” customer problems and frustrations ultimately empowers you and your team, improves your business and increases everyone’s confidence.
I’ll never forget reading our early comment cards—it wasn’t fun, but I was grateful to finally have the bag off my head after five years in business! The first time you pick up a stack of comment cards from your front desk, you may get butterflies. Then it becomes routine, even something you look forward to. Customer feedback provides the crucial course corrections you need to make sure you keep your business steaming confidently through the spa industry’s choppy waters.
Visit netpromoter.com for more information on how you can use the Ultimate Question in your company.
I don’t talk to many spa owners who feel their customer service is sub-substandard. Many already use customer-feedback tools, including customer comment cards and even in-house or professionally conducted surveys. The more vigilant spas are monitoring their buzz on online review sites like Yelp! And Citysearch. According to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, customer happiness is at its lowest point in two years.
Getting into our customer’s heads has turned into an obsession. What are they thinking? What are they saying?
Turns out, there’s one simple question that will not just tell you what they’re thinking, but predict its impact on your bottom line. A system called the Net Promoter Score measures the likelihood of a customer recommending you to others—which proves to be a very accurate indicator of business success.
Fred Reichheld, a business consultant and author, recently released his book The Ultimate Question, which explains the Net Promoter Scoring system. The system, which the author has used for three years, was also described in an article in the Harvard Business Review last year.
The question is very simple: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us?”
A score of 9-10 indicates a delighted, loyal customer who is willing to promote your company. 7-8 suggests satisfied customers who are “passive”, or non-promoters, and 6 or below is an “active detractor,” someone who is promoting you to others—in the wrong way.
In other words, the only customers who will build your business are the ones who give you 9’s and 10’s. To get your Net Promoter Score, you subtract the percentage of detractors from promoters. Reichheld says that most companies he studied actually scored between 10 and 20, with the “A Players”, appropriately, racking up scores over 80%.
The author tested many similar questions before hitting on this one. For some reason, the Ultimate Question crystallizes feelings about customer satisfaction almost perfectly, creating a highly accurate indicator of a company’s ability to win new customers and retain existing ones.
Best of all, it’s simple. You can implement this system tomorrow at your spa. Place cards with this question at your front desk and have your concierges graciously invite each departing guest to complete one. It will take about ten seconds. We added two questions, with the same 0 to 10 scale, asking guests to rate their individual therapist’s “recommendability” and their satisfaction with our facilities and amenities. We also give them a space for comments under each. This helps us pinpoint areas for improvement. We also discreetly note the guest’s name on the card after they’ve departed, so we can address specific situations that need to be rectified.
We review our score at each week’s management Progress Meeting.
If you’re new to customer feedback tools, take heart. For years, I ran my spa without explicitly asking for people’s honest feedback. It’s easy to get complacent, or assume you’re doing the best job you can. No one wants to go looking for trouble. But like any long-avoided cleaning chore, once you roll up your sleeves you’re glad you got into it. Though no one likes to be criticized, “outing” customer problems and frustrations ultimately empowers you and your team, improves your business and increases everyone’s confidence.
I’ll never forget reading our early comment cards—it wasn’t fun, but I was grateful to finally have the bag off my head after five years in business! The first time you pick up a stack of comment cards from your front desk, you may get butterflies. Then it becomes routine, even something you look forward to. Customer feedback provides the crucial course corrections you need to make sure you keep your business steaming confidently through the spa industry’s choppy waters.
Visit netpromoter.com for more information on how you can use the Ultimate Question in your company.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Welcome to the Wynne Business Spa Industry Update!
Welcome to the Wynne Business blog--I'd like to involve you in a frank and engaging conversation about the latest business thinking, trends and market conditions in the spa industry. Each month, if not more often, I'll share my thoughts about the issues that impact spa operators--from small to large. As an avid consumer of conventional business media, I'll also pass along resources and ideas that I find especially useful. (Check out this month's issue of Harvard Business Review for an excellent article on strategies for dealing with low-cost competitors!)
THE BAY AREA SPA LEADERSHIP ROUND TABLE DEBUTS IN JANUARY!
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Bay Area Spa Leadership Round Table on January 31, 2007. If you'd like more information on this quarterly Round Table, designed to disseminate best practices and provide cutting-edge management intelligence, please contact Program Host Dionne Fountain at df@wynnebusiness.com. Membership is open to spas with annual revenues of $1 million or more, and a different member spa hosts the meeting each quarter.
The three hour format includes a group round table discussion, an expert presenter, and a "case study" in which the host spa can present an idea or issue they'd like group input on. Meetings run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and kick off with a continental breakfast at 9:15 a.m. Annual membership will be just $100 for four meetings, and up to two representatives of the member business management team may attend.
The Bay Area Spa Leadership Round Table is sponsored by Wynne Business and Spa Trade.
THE BAY AREA SPA LEADERSHIP ROUND TABLE DEBUTS IN JANUARY!
I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Bay Area Spa Leadership Round Table on January 31, 2007. If you'd like more information on this quarterly Round Table, designed to disseminate best practices and provide cutting-edge management intelligence, please contact Program Host Dionne Fountain at df@wynnebusiness.com. Membership is open to spas with annual revenues of $1 million or more, and a different member spa hosts the meeting each quarter.
The three hour format includes a group round table discussion, an expert presenter, and a "case study" in which the host spa can present an idea or issue they'd like group input on. Meetings run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and kick off with a continental breakfast at 9:15 a.m. Annual membership will be just $100 for four meetings, and up to two representatives of the member business management team may attend.
The Bay Area Spa Leadership Round Table is sponsored by Wynne Business and Spa Trade.
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